Question to Sheanna about Campaign Statement

[Redheadedwitchywoman]

Hi Sheanna

Your campaign statement is very interesting.

“Two of my main areas of interest are in Community Outreach and Fund Raising. Since we are a community centered organization with the intent of one day having our own Sacred Space, I believe we need to focus on fund raising, not just at Dragonfest, but throughout the year. I also believe that our community involvement should extend throughout the year as well and I have many ideas that I would like to share with the organization to bring these two visions together” Would you please give us an idea of what kind of Fund Raising and Outreach ideas you have in mind.

I’d also like to ask if you are willing to devote the time and energy required to be on the board. By this I mean, are you willing to attend all of the meetings?



Dona

[Sheana]

[Redheadedwitchywoman]

Thank you Sheanna for you indepth response. That was exactly what I was looking for.

I would like to pose the same thing to the other two candidates.

Jazz,

From your campaign statement. [color=red]"As a Board member, I would like to help keep that integral spark that is Dragonfest intact, while ushering in the necessary changes."[/color]

I would like to know what necessary changes you see for Dragonfest and how you would like to see those changes implemented.

Margaret,

What direction would you like to see Dragonfest take and how would you like to see this happen??



I’d also like to ask you both, are you willing to devote the time and energy required to be on the board. By this I mean, are you willing to attend all of the meetings?


Respectfully

Dona

[Mark Johnson]

[Sheana]

[rwitte42]

[Sheana]

[rwitte42]

[Sheana]

[rwitte42]

[Sheana]

[Flwyd]

I fail to see what "Dragonfest sanctioning" provides to a ritual. One certainly doesn't need permission for a ritual, and I don't see how an endorsement would help.

A ritual is a ritual. It can be made more or less appealing by the subject matter, the people leading the ritual, the people planning to attend, the location, and the context in which it occurs. (By context I mean things like Open Full Moon, a regular holiday gathering in a park, etc.) Dragonfest is relevant for location and context, but that relevance only applies at the festival. Even if everyone involved in the ritual attends Dragonfest, it's not a "Dragonfest ritual," and I know I won't be any more inclined to attend a ritual if the Board says "Dragonfest likes this ritual."

Are you proposing that Dragonfest resources (supplies, funds, official communication, etc.) be used for rituals outside of Dragonfest? Or do you have something else in mind that I didn't grok?

[Flwyd]

I fail to see what "Dragonfest sanctioning" provides to a ritual. One certainly doesn't need permission for a ritual, and I don't see how an endorsement would help.

A ritual is a ritual. It can be made more or less appealing by the subject matter, the people leading the ritual, the people planning to attend, the location, and the context in which it occurs. (By context I mean things like Open Full Moon, a regular holiday gathering in a park, etc.) Dragonfest is relevant for location and context, but that relevance only applies at the festival. Even if everyone involved in the ritual attends Dragonfest, it's not a "Dragonfest ritual," and I know I won't be any more inclined to attend a ritual if the Board says "Dragonfest likes this ritual."

Are you proposing that Dragonfest resources (supplies, funds, official communication, etc.) be used for rituals outside of Dragonfest? Or do you have something else in mind that I didn't grok?

[Jareth]

[Sheana]

Hi flwyd,

First let me say thank you for your interest in my responses.

There are those in the community that would like to see Dragonfest as an organization be more active throughout the year. As I stated in my earlier outline, this was brought up at the 2005 corporate meeting by several people. As I also stated, these are things that I have been thinking about for quite some time, over a decade to be exact.

You stated that “Dragonfest is relevant for location and context, but that relevance only applies at the festival.” This is simply not the case. We are a Non Profit Community Centered Educational Corporation. (Technically, our 501(c)3 status is in Education.) But the reason for Dragonfest is to serve the community and bring it together. (Which it does exceptionally well.) Considering this I think it would be good if we could serve the community throughout the year with small events that would bring the community together for a few hours to celebrate a holiday or two. This is nothing less than what Hearthstone does on a monthly basis, that Grand Coven does on a yearly basis or that Drumming Up The Sun does for us every Yule. These functions are all meant to bring the community together.

The outline that I gave in response to Dona’s question is just this, an outline of ideas that I have. Different ritual ideas and perhaps Dragonfest “sanctioned workshops” and perhaps a Dragonfest “sanctioned” food bank.

In response to the question you asked: “Are you proposing that Dragonfest resources (supplies, funds, official communication, etc.) be used for rituals outside of Dragonfest?” Here is a quote from the answer I outlined for Dona:

“The problem, however, always comes down to money. In order to hold a ritual we would need space. In order to get space we would need to a) buy our own, or b) rent space. The only other alternative is to find someone with a big enough space that would also be willing to donate it to us for a day. Considering the geographic locations of our membership, it is one thing to drive to the mountains in August to spend the week. But it is entirely another thing to drive to the mountains in the middle of winter for an afternoon ritual. Taking this under advisement, a central location will be critical.

Not only that, but big public rituals have costs associated unto themselves. Many times we donate our own personal money to purchase the equipment necessary to put on a ritual. But, if we are talking about a Rite of Passage that is going to take all night, we won't have the convenience of our Entry Fee into Dragonfest to cover the cost of breakfast in the morning.

The bottom line is that we would probably have to charge a small fee in order to attend, but this would serve two purposes.

* Bring the community together throughout the year,

* And contribute to our fundraising efforts.

Which brings us back to Fundraising, thus bringing these two visions together and bringing us full circle.”

As you can see from my response, I did not propose that we use Dragonfest resources.

As for your statement “and I know I won't be any more inclined to attend a ritual if the Board says "Dragonfest likes this ritual." That would be up to you, as an individual, to decide. I can only speak for myself when I say that if I knew that there was going to be a ritual which was also to help raise funds for Dragonfest I would do everything I could to attend.

Thank you for taking the time to respond and I hope that I have addressed any concerns that you may have had.

In Their Service,
Sheana